We have just got back from a short overseas trip – hence the fact that our blog has been silent for the last few days. On our outward flight we again discovered an alcohol-free “wine” on the in-flight menu, but this time the airline actually had it in stock. We ordered a small plastic bottle…. served with a small plastic glass.

Whilst it is actually advertised as wine, technically, as it has no alcohol, it is not actually wine but merely a wine flavoured soft drink. Of course, packing any drink into an 18cl screw top plastic bottle is never going to be the best way of preserving freshness, and this particular beverage only served to confirm that theory. The nose was a combination of oxidised, volatile acetones – hardly making it an attractive proposition for drinking. And the palate? Well, what can I say? Not really much better. To be brutally honest it simply tasted like flavoured water, the type that you might buy in litre bottles in a supermarket, flavoured with peach, or perhaps a hint of summer fruits.

The question must therefore be, why bother? Or at the very least, why advertise it as alcohol-free wine and not just as a flavoured soft drink? Sorry, I just don’t see the point and certainly can’t recommend it.

We have just got back from a short overseas trip – hence the fact that our blog has been silent for the last few days. On our outward flight we again discovered an alcohol-free “wine” on the in-flight menu, but this time the airline actually had it in stock. We ordered a small plastic bottle…. served with a small plastic glass.

Whilst it is actually advertised as wine, technically, as it has no alcohol, it is not actually wine but merely a wine flavoured soft drink. Of course, packing any drink into an 18cl screw top plastic bottle is never going to be the best way of preserving freshness, and this particular beverage only served to confirm that theory. The nose was a combination of oxidised, volatile acetones – hardly making it an attractive proposition for drinking. And the palate? Well, what can I say? Not really much better. To be brutally honest it simply tasted like flavoured water, the type that you might buy in litre bottles in a supermarket, flavoured with peach, or perhaps a hint of summer fruits.

The question must therefore be, why bother? Or at the very least, why advertise it as alcohol-free wine and not just as a flavoured soft drink? Sorry, I just don’t see the point and certainly can’t recommend it.